Soft mobility as the key to Italy's sustainable recovery. Cycle paths, walking routes, trails, local railways, villages and slow tourism must be adequately supported in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, also to guarantee new jobs and greater protection of local areas; yet in the text approved by the Council of Ministers on 12 January, these themes are present only in a partial way, in several cases without identifying adequate resources and without configuring a coherent strategy. For this reason, the network of associations that makes up the Alliance for Soft Mobility (Amodo) has drawn up a document with seven proposals for integrating the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which in the coming weeks will be taken on board by the Draghi government.

Soft mobility networks as infrastructure for sustainability

This is the case with networks for soft mobility on foot and by bicycle, mentioned only in a fragmented way in the first two missions of the text; Amodo proposes inserting the totality of these walking routes, trails and cycle paths as a component of mission 3, focused on infrastructure for sustainable mobility. Secondly, through Next Generation Italia, the aim should be to build 5,000 kilometres of urban cycle networks and 10,000 kilometres of networks linking towns and villages, routes on low-traffic roads, greenways and tourist cycle paths: these are projects requiring two billion in investment that could be completed within six years. At the same time, the network of walking routes, trails and paths should be strengthened, creating an integrated map of soft mobility networks and their connections with the transport system.

More resources for local railways and the enhancement of villages

The fourth proposal put forward by Amodo aims to rebalance railway investment, redirecting greater resources towards local transport and regional railways: the current 5.6 billion should rise to 12.5 billion, with reductions in other spending items for high-speed and long-distance services. The broad theme of sustainable tourism, which features at several points in the text, should also be linked to that of soft mobility and local territories, with specific projects tied to the overall vision of the Plan. Then there is the major issue of villages, which should be conceived not only in tourist terms but also as places to live, reside and do business, where support for the local community ensures that territorial stewardship and the protection of identity are maintained; an objective that necessarily requires an increase in the provision of healthcare services, public transport and digital connectivity. The final proposal concerns the broader themes of participation, training, project quality and the involvement of the third sector: all fundamental elements for ensuring that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan can act as a catalyst for soft mobility in Italy.